Freedom for Captives

Jesus began His ministry by declaring that “the Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because He has anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor. He has sent me to bring freedom to captives, and recovery of sight to the blind, to set free those who are oppressed, to proclaim the favorable year of the Lord.” We believe that as followers of Jesus, we have inherited His mission and that He has empowered us to fulfill our part in His work.

If you would like to bring freedom to some captives, please let us know. We’d love to partner with you.

A New Life

Being set free is only the first step for bonded families. Once free, families need to find accommodation and work. When we set a family free, we provide enough food to last a month and then we work with local churches to find work for the families. Often we provide loans to get people started in small business. In the past we have started people in work in textiles, chicken farming, cartage, and fruit and veg selling.

Christians in Islamic South Asia are kept bound in poverty by limited access to jobs and work opportunities. We would love to partner with people who can help to create work for families and communities to help them to become self-sustaining.

How to Help

Helping is cheap, quick and easy. You can redeem a slave today. $100 is all it takes to buy a person their freedom and save them from years (and in some cases decades) of hard labor.

$150 is all it costs to pay for the education of 150 slave and poor children for a month. A donation of any amount will help to provide children with school supplies.

This year we are planning to create a medical loan fund to help people stay out of slavery. A donation of any amount will help people to access medical help in emergencies.

Connect with us through our Facebook page and find out all the latest families that have been freed or need freeing. If you aren’t able to help financially, consider sharing a Facebook post. It could help a family to get free sooner. Please connect with us and share the word!

Slave Kids get Schooled

In September we are starting two schools for the children of slaves and for the very poor. Recently we negotiated with kiln owners to release the children for classes during the day and have secured two rooms (one provided free of charge by a local church), and have four teachers ready to start lessons.

The cost of all this? $150 per month. The teachers are teaching for next to nothing and we have found cheap space to rent, which means there is no charge for any of the children. That means 150 kids from slave and truly poor families will be educated.

Want to help? Get in on the action and sponsor a month’s worth of education. We currently have enough for three months of classes. After that, we need people like you to help to keep this going. Find out more.

Beauty for Ashes

The freeslaves.org mission began in response to the killing of Shazad and Shama Bibi in Nov 2014. Shazad and Shama were two Christian slaves who challenged the kiln owners over unfairly increasing the debt they owed. Shortly afterwards they were accused of blasphemy and then beaten, tortured, and burned alive in front of their children. This was not just an act of religious violence, it was a message to all Christian slaves: “You belong to us. Your life is in our hands. Fight our system and die.”

Our hearts were moved. We discovered that there are tens of thousands of Christians currently trapped in slavery in South Asia. Most have sold themselves into slavery to pay for medical expenses for a loved one. The bank would not give them money. They had nothing to sell. The church had no money. So they took the only option that they could find: they sold themselves into slavery to try and save another person. Our hearts broke for the hopelessness that drove people into slavery. Our hearts broke for the conditions our brothers and sisters in Christ endure every day, year after year. And it’s with broken hearts that we reach out to make a difference. Now we buy them back. Through local churches we pay their debt, get them out, supply food, find accommodation and get people into work or started in business wherever possible. This is our response. This is our heart. This is our worship. And we’d love you to be a part of it.